Paradise Lost
by KuroiAzarashi
Summary: Sequel to Past, Present and Future with a title that is subject to change ^^; um, Ivy is now Tallest and war once again looms on the horizon, but of a different nature. Will the population of Irk survive? Read and find out! R&R Plz! plus PRHG's request!
1. Chapter 1

Here it is! The sequel most of you have been waiting for! Read on and review please!

Dark eyes scanned the horizon, sharp as a hawk looking for its prey. Purple's Right Hand Girl shielded her face with one slender hand gripping a double bladed scythe in the other.

"Where is he...?" She muttered, voice low and dripping with malice. Her acute vision picked up the almost miniscule twitch of a slender, nervous antenna. "You're mine!" She screamed, lunging forward with the force of a thousand voot cruisers. "I will avenge you Purple-sama!" She cried, her words holding the slightest hints of sorrow.

"Shit!" Her quarry yelped; tripping over his feet in his own haste to somehow, with the help of about seventy miracles and the Mother of all on Irk, get away. His red eyes glinted in the harsh light of Irk's moons, alive with the fear that he soon would be dead.

"I've got you now!" Purple's Right Hand Girl shrieked into the night air, disrupting the relative peace with her promise of revenge. "You will never escape me!" Her scythe swung in a great arc, metal glistening as if it were wet with his blood already, to sweep down on the unprotected back, much the same way as-

KA: Okay! That's enough of that! Purple's Right Hand Girl has received her revenge, just imagine the rest people...anyway, here is the REAL sequel! Please read and review and I apologize for the lateness, it was supposed to be out two weeks ago! But, as usual, ffn wasn't cooperating and school is winding down so testing is on the horizon...enough with the excuses, not like anybody reads this stuff anyway! Do they?

__

Italics = flashbacks this time ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own them, just Tegin and anybody else that is not familiar, except, of course, Ivy who I am borrowing once again from the great Aliet Faslami! Her work is very inspiring! And no, that is not Purple chained to the wall in my basement...

Ivy stared out the window, longing to find solace in the deep dark of the universe. She remembered when she and Purple had used to look out at the stars together; they had brought the deceased ruler peace and tranquility in his otherwise hectic and dangerous world. The young green-eye swallowed the lump in her throat as she recalled those precious nights; they had always been too few...

_"What are the stars, Pur?" A very young Ivy looked up at her teacher, admiring his tallness and kind violet eyes._

"Beautiful..." he sighed, knowing that that hadn't been what she had meant.

"I didn't mean that!" She laughed, holding up her arms to be picked up by a very willing Purple. 

"I know...but if you explain something beautiful it takes away from it." He smiled and stroked her antennae while they continued to gaze at the other world, lost in their thoughts and breathless at the beauty that dotted the sky before them...

"Ivy-tam?" She was brought out of her reveries by the shy voice of her friend Tegin Di. He had finally received his name, though through a very unconventional method. His teacher's will, drawn up before The War, as it was now called, had left him everything, including his name, asking forgiveness for not being able to give it to him properly. 

"Hm?" She never turned from the window and Tegin understood that it was not a show of aloofness as they had often shared memories standing in front of the stars.

"You have that meeting with the Dan-ga-Jin in an hour. Red told me to tell you." His quiet voice hadn't changed over the two years since they had met. He had grown taller, still not as tall as she or Red but taller then everyone else in the complex, and she smiled imagining his face. A small smile would play across his lips as he stared at her back waiting for a response and his body would shift from left to right as he grew anxious with waiting. But, she reminded herself, she was the sole Tallest now and no one could rush her, no matter how cute they were...

"Thank you, Tegin." She ran an arm across her face, wiping away any stray tears, and spun to face her companion with a huge grin. "Shall we go then?"

"W, we?" The shorter one stuttered while Ivy slung an arm about his shoulder.

"Of course "we"! I could never go anywhere with out my trusty advisor! Red doesn't like these long meeting anyways. Where is he?" She was very proud of Tegin; he had gotten over his fear of Soldiers, for the most part, and was now able to tolerate Red in the same room. Ivy didn't hate Red for what he had done those two years ago, but neither did she forgive him. Still, she loved her instructor very much and he continued to teach her the rules of combat, even though he beseeched her not to pursue such deadly past times. He himself had resigned from commander of the Irken military leaving it to the shorter ones and even some of the Students. Times had changed and for the most part there was peace, there was only one group of Soldiers that continued to stir up trouble and they kept mostly to themselves.

"They will be here shortly and then the meeting will start a half-hour after that." He peeked at his electronic notebook, a handy one that he could clip to his wrist, to confirm everything.

"What is this thing about?" She asked, knowing that they would both be slightly bored no matter what the issue.

"Peace negotiations..." he replied slowly, they were always particularly tedious as everybody always resisted Irken conquest.

"I guess we'll have to hear their terms, huh?" Ivy asked, not looking forward to it at all. Irk's population was bigger then gigantic and they needed room to expand therefore forcing the invasions and causing conflict. Usually these could be resolved peacefully but sometimes...she let the thought hang.

"I'm afraid so."

"Well! Then let's get it over with!" They left, heading down to the lower levels, with their arms intertwined.

Wow, that was short...dang it! I promise It'll get better and longer! And for those who are wondering, Tegin and Ivy are not a couple; they are merely friends. Ivy's not mine and I can't, nor do I want to, do anything else w/out permission from her creator.

I hope you like it and it catches your interest because there's nothing worse then a bored reader! Please leave any suggestions with your reviews and I will think about every one, giving credit where it is due! Thank you for reading! Ja ne minna-san! 


	2. Chapter 2

Mother of Irk! Where has the time gone? Some of you may be wondering where I have been and I gotta tell you-I've been wondering the same thing! I come back after these long weeks of technical difficulty to find that AF has updated Divisions, wonderful work there, AND created another story...I am so sad because I can't get on to read them...*sniff* Well, enough of my sorrows! The next chappie of Paradise Lost is up and running! I must warn you - it may be short.

"We've lost another one..." The odd, blazing silver-white of the Student's eyes, most likely genetic defect, rare as they may be, shone with her sadness. The child had barely made it out of the nursery when an illness, akin to the one that had struck down several Soldiers in the past few days, had ravaged the slender body turning him into no more then skin and bones. It had been heartbreaking to watch, as the entire medical personal had been helpless to stop it. So far this new disease had a one hundred percent mortality rate and no one, Student or Soldier, could figure out the mystery.

It worked slowly enough, beginning as simply as chills and progressing into a full fledged wasting sickness over a matter of weeks. Most everyone who knew about it had a strong feeling it came from a planet set for conquering, a new one on the outer rings of an asteroid belt surrounding some galaxy or another. The Irken put there on the takeover had been rescued when he had contracted the disease. There had been a leak in containment and now Shiroi feared the planet could be on the verge of an epidemic, a serious one at that. 

"I'm very sorry that we could not come to a peaceful settlement today." Ivy sighed, irate at not being able to negotiate properly. The leader of the Dan-ga-Jin was not able to be there in person so Ivy had to resort through video, taped at least a week prior, and insubordinate underlings. "But I'm afraid I can not halt the invasion, the bio sweep will begin in two days, I suggest you evacuate your people to a safer area. I give you my condolences." At a silent command Tegin swept the oddly shaped creatures, somewhere between a blue rat and a red fish, through the doors that led back to their misshapen ship.

"That was unconventional..." Tegin breathed, his orange eyes unusually dim. "I thought that would never end, and that vid! Ugh...I've seen Red do better visuals then that..." Ivy giggled, the Soldier had never mastered the visual arts.

"What's next on the agenda?" The green-eye asked, sipping a soda and leaning against the council table.

"The medical personal have some issues regarding the new virus...they think it may have something to do with the Dan-ga-Jin race..." his tone took on a somber quality. "They lost another today, a child; this disease has a one hundred percent mortality rate." Ivy was silent.

"One hundred percent..." she repeated quietly. As far as she knew there hadn't been any disease like that on Irk for at least twenty centuries. "And they have no idea what it is?"

"Not a one." Tegin took a step closer.

"We should go speak to them then."

"This way, my Tallest." The young orange-eye preformed a sweeping bow and gestured toward the exit doors.

"Oh stop that!" Ivy laughed, shoving him carefully aside. Tegin was now two feet shorter then she and a great deal more frail. On more than one occasion Ivy had feared he would break under pressure but he had always held strong.

When they entered the medical bay the doctors whisked them into the sterilized halls to dress them in sterile uniforms. Tegin looked worried and a bit pale but Ivy failed to notice, she was busy conversing with the head medic, the strange white-eye known to most as Shiroi. She had just appeared in a nursery one day and there were rumors that she had been conceived outside the birthing protocol, as there were no records of her anywhere. Nobody knew if her name was in fact her own but no one dared question her. She was a serious female, almost stoic, and one to never let anyone close enough to her to hurt her. Tegin admired Shiroi's inner strength; she hid her pain well, not well enough though to pass under the orange-eye's scrutinizing gaze.

"Tegin, is it?" He jumped, the silky smooth voice of Shiroi jerking him back to full consciousness.

"Er, what? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Where'd Tallest Ivy go?" 

"To speak with the other medics. I haven't seen you around here too often-though I do recall stories of your bravery during The War." Tegin blushed, uncomfortable under the sorrowful, analyzing eyes that were only two inches away from his own. They were like silvery pools he seemed to drown in and right now he was floundering to the top for air.

"Not bravery, really..." he gulped, "more like adoring affection..."

"Don't be so nervous! I'm trying to made you crack; though I must say you held up rather well. All of the medical Irkens here collapsed under it, they say it was my eyes that dragged them down. Is that true? I'm conducting a study."

"Ah, I see. Yes, I would say it's true, I've never met someone with those abilities before." Indeed it was as rare as the eye color itself. He found he could breath easier and the annoying flush coloring his face dark green began to disappear as she wrote down his name next to another jumble of information in a notebook.

"I'm trying to develop it further..." she mumbled absentmindedly scribbling down more of the difficult Irken lettering. The notebook snapped shut with a soft click. "Are you her assistant? Or is it something else?" Shiroi added with a sly grin, nudging him with her shoulder. "Eh?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that! She's a Tallest...and I'm...just short..." Tegin muttered, crestfallen.

"You're not that short, you're taller then me."

"That's a start." He retorted with a wry smile.

"Don't get smart with me!" Tegin began to feel better in leaps. Gone was the shyness he felt before replaced with a happiness, one that seemed to fill in the empty places he knew were there. 

"Coming Tegin?" Ivy asked from out of no where, an annoying habit she picked up from the late Tallest Purple. 

"Yes, Tallest." A formality used around others, one Tegin never forgot. How could he when she towered above everyone else. It could be argued that she was even a few inches taller then Red, though he would never admit it.

"What were you and Shiroi talking about?" Ivy asked surreptitiously, peering down at her friend with half-closed eyes.

"Stuff." Tegin replied, staring straight ahead knowing very well what she wanted.

"What kind of stuff? Do you have a thing for that white-eye? Hm, Tegin?" Always to the point...

"All of a sudden everyone is talking to me like I'm some sort of female chaser...can't talk to one without assorted queries following."

"You do, don't you?"

"You just ignored everything I just said, didn't you?"

"Aw, that is so cute!"

"Stop it." He knew she was trying to get him angry, no small feat in itself, but it could be done.

"You know of course I'll have to interview her, can't be too careful about who comes near me widdle Tegin!" Said Irken cocked one antennae to the side and raised a non-existent eyebrow, keeping his trek through the halls as straight as possible. But no, the torture wouldn't stop there, would it? "You two will make such an adorable couple!" She used one gauntleted hand to pat his head twice.

"Must you?"

"Yes."

"But there isn't anything between us! I just met her today."

"Wow, you move fast!"

"Anyway," Tegin interjected, trying to change the subject, "you have one hour before you need to meet with Tallest Red to discuss new weapon orders, not to mention possible vaccine discussions with the Irken Health Service for this new disease, and food shipment, snacks and such other valuables..." Tegin said dryly, "the conquering, the bio-sweep etc. etc..."

"Well, I'll split off then, give you some free time. Feel free to use it to go meet with your lady friend." The green-eye said suggestively.

"Maybe I will." Tegin said with a grin, throwing the Tallest for a well-deserved loop. "I'll tell you how it turns out, here's the schedule, now don't be late." He patted her hand and walked back the way they had come leaving Ivy standing speechless in the corridor.

Ah, there, I hope that satisfies you for a while. Sorry for the little interlude chappie thing but I needed a space filler for time issues. It will pick up from her out. Don't forget to review! I thank you all in advance!


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3, I think...Would anyone like to be e-mailed when I update this thing. I've tried it on others and it seems to work pretty well.

Thank you for your reviews! Please enjoy!

"Completely out of the question!" Yelled Ivy, irate at the suggestion being thrown at her. "I refuse to send them, either of them!" She sat down heavily on the couch next to Red. "How can you ask this of me? You know as well as I that the trip has a twenty percent survival rate."

"Even if it meant the entire race's salvation?" Red tossed back quietly. "Being a leader is making these suggestions."

"Yeah, but you cheated, you always had Pur to fall back on and make the choice for you in a rational way involving no lasers." A wry smile crossed her lips. "One could say that you were merely a token, he used to say that if he was ever held for ransom they could trade you for him."

"No, he didn't!" A pause. "Did he?"

"I heard it with my own two antennae." Both their eyes had fallen to the floor, joking about Purple always depressed them. The former soldier slipped in and out of deep despair, seeming to grow thinner every day. "I miss him Reddy..." Ivy murmured using the old nickname and snuggling into the former Tallest's arms as tears formed in her green eyes.

"I know... and I hate myself every day for what I did." Ivy felt the strong arms around her tighten and felt something trickle down her cheek. As she reached up to brush the tear away she noticed it was not her own. Leaving it Ivy closed the pools of endless jade and allowed hers to mingle with Red's.

"Welcome back stranger." Shiroi said lightly looking up from her clipboard as the young orange-eye stepped into her room. At her waist was as low table with a tiny female resting on it, the pale purple and grey back pod connected to a charger.

"Another so soon?" Tegin whispered quietly walking over to stand at the metal slab.

"We figured out that it's only contagious in the first stage."

"How many stages does it have?"

"At most we think four." He waited for the spry female to continue. "Stage one is when it is first contracted, contagious, it presents itself in a mild cough and fever. Stage two, no longer contagious and resulting at least four to five weeks after contracted, is more serious. Violent coughing, chills, high-grade fever, headache, nausea...that can last for up to three weeks in itself" She paused to write down more. "We've lost them from stage two on..." The white-eye looked down at the little one. "Those who make it past stage two come to stage three. It results in rapid weight loss and increasing lethargy as well as the symptoms of nausea, fever, chills and headache, the coughing seems to disappear. It lasts for two weeks." She seemed unwilling to continue.

"And stage four?" Tegin asked, swallowing and grasping the sick child's hand.

"Coma and ultimately death before the week is out."

"It lasts so long..." he muttered sadly wondering what stage the toddler on the counter was.

"It's so dangerous because the stage one lasts so long...in that time, before one even knows what is wrong, hundreds can be infected that leading to millions. It's already a worldwide epidemic."

"How is it contracted?"

"Simply touch is enough; the virus lives on the skin..." 

"Shiroi?"

"We've lost so many!" She cried, throwing down her notepad. "The ones that come in here are only to be experimented on! No one shows even the slightest bit of immunity...Even with supportive treatment we've only been able to delay the inevitable and make them all suffer longer. Every different city on this planet is in quarantine and we aren't even close to finding the cure."

"What else?"

"There is nothing else." Tegin used his free hand to grasp Shiroi's.

"I can see it in your eyes."

"I'm to be sent on an expedition to the Dan-ga-Jin planet; the bio-sweep has been delayed."

"What? Why?"

"To find out if we can develop a vaccine from them. Everyone is positive it comes from them." Tegin's antennae fell.

"Ivy, Ivy has been in contact with them! Oh, Mother of Irk...I've been in contact with them...I don't know how many of us have! What if I'm contagious? Oh no...What have I done?"

"There is nothing we can do about that now, no one could have warned you." She drew him into her arms. "That's why they're sending us, you, me and my medical team. Ivy's armor may well have protected her. It can't be breathed in."

"But..."

"Don't worry about that now, we launch in twenty hours. If we're lucky we'll have at least six weeks to complete this. The research has already begun."

"What will Ivy say...?"

"Absolutely no! I'm not going to send you out on some death trap of a space ship!"

"But Ivy, I have to go, it could be the salvation of the planet."

"Let the medical teams handle it then!"

"You don't have to yell..."

"Apparently I do because no one here seems to be able to hear me!"

"If you order me to stay I have no choice, but the ship needs a technician-"

"Let them find someone else!"

"There's no more time for that..." Ivy came forward as if to put her hands on his shoulders.

"No! Don't touch me!"

"What? Why not?"

"I am contagious..." Ivy's eyes filled with horror. 

"No, you can't have it; it's a mistake!"

"Shiroi ran the testing, her and I, we both tested positive..."

"But..."

"Don't worry about that now. The teams have six weeks to find the cure, they can do it." He smiled weakly at her. "But in the meantime send the med room a blood sample so that you can be tested. Send one of Red's too."

"But...I don't want you to go..."

"I think it would be for the best, I'm too much a liability now, if you got sick because of me I wouldn't be able to live with myself." No matter how short a time I had, he said to himself silently. His orange-eyes glistened as his smile broadened. "Just think, If I help with this project I can become known as the Irken Who Saved Irk! With a little help from my colleague Shiroi of course." He bowed to an imaginary crowd. "I want to thank all the little people out there for all their help in sending me this far!"

"Oh, you fool; you still laugh, even in the face of death?" Tegin resisted the urge to reach for her hand.

"That's all I have left." He headed out the sliding door stopping only once. "I will come back, I promise."

"Oh, I thought you got lost, it took you long enough." Shiroi said without looking up from the crates she was tallying containing all the equipment, peering sharply at the technician when he bent over in a coughing fit.

"I had to say goodbye." He wheezed, he hadn't wanted to upset Ivy further with his health problem.

"Are you all right?"

"Just dandy..." he said sarcastically eyeing the rows of people boarding the spacecraft. It was a little less then half the size of the Massive and that was mainly labs and storage. The sick in stages one through three were being helped aboard, lab rats for testing, and Tegin felt a pang of grief stab through sharper then the rest of his sorrow as he noticed the tiny purple-eye wasn't with them. She had probably passed away hours ago.

"Shall we go then?" Shiroi asked, prying his attention away from the sad procession.

"Of course, my lady." He replied lightly, hooking his arm through hers and tramping away to the huge maroon ship.

"Why does it have to be them?" Ivy sobbed, burying her face in Red's neck.

"Only they can answer that."

Oh death and despair abound in this sucker! How will I ever wade through it all? With your reviews of course! Review peoples! As I love them so!


	4. Chapter 4

Oh...Sorry it took so long...I'm working on ten other stories and four essays...so much...stuff! My hands are cramping...

Well, anyway, I'm back! Please review!

"We are approaching orbit with the Dan-ga-Jin planet." The crackly, wheezing voice whispered over the monitor. It had taken a precious week to arrive and already ten percent of the crew had been lost, their bodies cremated and sent into the cold vacuum of space. It meant that the medical crew had only four weeks to complete the mission. The ship would then break orbit and begin its race back to Irk, without needing the aid of anyone else. The medical staff there would then search the containment chambers, after sterilization, for the hopefully found cure. Until then...countless would be lost.

"How are you holding up Tegin?" Shiroi asked as he paused, coughing, from fixing some of the broken equipment. His glove came away bloody and he wiped it on a cloth he kept in his pant's pocket.

"I'm all right, you?" Much to his relief Shiroi stood up to the symptoms rather well, he didn't know what he would do if he lost her...

"Surprisingly better then you and I contracted it before you."

"Maybe you're resistant?" 

"I doubt it...I still suffer the same symptoms as every one else." Her head hung low. "We thought we had a cure..."

"And?"

"We tried it on stages one through four, and it made it worse. I feel so horrible for what I am doing to these patients! Children are dying and there is nothing I can do!" Her voice cracked and she knelt on deck, shuddering back and forth between hacking coughs and dry sobs.

"You're doing all you can, don't be too hard on yourself." He drew her close, lack of sleep evident on both their faces. "You'll find it, I know you will." She wiped her eyes.

"I'm s, sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

"I'm here for you, now go find that cure."

"What if I can't?" The orange-eye was surprised. He had never seen Shiroi act this way before, she was like a child, scared and alone, lost in a world of despair.

"You will! Before the four weeks are even up! I'll have to reprogram the ship to send us home early!" He wheezed. "I have to finish repairing this control center, and then I'll come and help."

"Thanks Tegin..." The white-eye whispered, heading back in the direction she had come from.

"She'll find it, I know she will...Ivy, I hope you're all right."

"Does anyone know how they are doing?" The green-eye paced back and forth with Red following her nervously.

"The medical staff told us that it was best to keep radio silence through out this whole thing. Did your test come back?"

"I'm fine, you too...Our armor protected us from skin to skin contact." 

"I miss them."

"You? The almighty Red?" His head hung and he slumped onto a green couch.

"I am no longer almighty as you say, and you know it Vee...And yes, I miss Tegin, for all he did for you, for us all...If he hadn't been there...I shudder to think what would have happened to you..."

"Red?"

"I miss Pur...I hate myself! How could I have done that? How? He was, he was my best friend and I turned around and slaughtered him! In cold blood...if he was still around I bet none of this would have happened...I would bet my pathetic life on it..."

"Red?" Ivy worried over him. He grew thinner every day, more and more despondent. She knew how much he had cared for the other Tallest; they had been like brothers. And he had betrayed the trust that came with that friendship.

"I should have gone with them to help...I could die in peace knowing I had done something to further the prosperity of the planet...instead of sitting here useless, wasting space..."

"No! No you will never think that again!" He looked up, surprise evident on his gaunt features. "Never! Do you hear me? If I ever hear those words come out of your mouth again!" The threat hung in the air and tears coursed down her face. She had lost two loved ones; she would not lose another.

"I'm sorry Vee...please don't cry, I'll never say it again, I promise..." He pulled her into his arms. "I should have been more thoughtful, not so selfish, stop crying..."

"You s, stupid S, Soldier..." She cried, beating his armor weakly with her hand, making him smile, she would be all right now.

Another week, more failures. They were beginning to become predictable and even Tegin was starting to lose hope. The prolonged work and space environment seemed to be taking a heavy toll and causing the symptoms to appear more rapidly. He himself was beginning to feel stage two. Tegin had taken over the burials but he felt that he wouldn't have to for long. Soon he himself would become a test subject. Even Shiroi's perceived resistance had been short lived and she had slipped beneath the waters of stage one.

"You look terrible." She said quietly, sidling up next to him as he ejected another container of ashes into space.

"Thanks...good day to you too..." he wiped a gloved hand across his forehead to stay the sweat threatening to trickle into his eyes. "How do you feel?"

"As well as can be expected..." she paused, "we think we may have found one, we're all really excited about this, but we can't get our hopes up too high..." and we only have two weeks, were the unspoken words. "We lose more and more every day..."

"I know, I'm the one who takes care of them...poor souls..." the orange-eye watched the grey box drift farther away. "Have you tested it yet?"

"Yes on levels two through three, their the only ones we have left...it seems to help them somewhat, but a total cure, we don't know." Her face turned pale as Tegin lurched forward, slumping against the metal walls in a violent coughing fit. "Are you all right?" She yelped worriedly. He nodded and continued to cough.

"I...think...I'm just at stage two..." he gasped, breathing raspy and painful.

"Just at? Why didn't you tell me?" She helped him shakily to his feet. "I could have given you something to help...let's get you to the sick bay." The white-eye tugged him along but he stopped her.

"No, I'll be fine, I've been like this for a while now, focus on the others and finding a cure..." he looked weakly at his gloves, they were stained with the rose colored liquid. "Go, I have more Irkens to take care of..." he gestured to a stack of crates.

"But-"

"Find the cure, Irk is counting on you..." he told her, launching another box decorated with Irken burial symbols and watching her walk away. "...I'm counting one you..."


End file.
